154 EPOCHS IN THE HISTOUY OF THE CONTEMPLATION 



refer first to the remarkable diversity presented by 

 the earth's surface. In the countries which the army 

 traversed, low lands, deserts devoid of vegetation or salt 

 steppes, (as on the north of the Asferah chain which is a 

 continuation of the Tian-schan), and the four large, culti- 

 vated, and rich alluvial districts of the Euphrates, the 

 Indus, the Oxus, and the Jaxartes, contrasted with 

 snowy mountains of nearly 20,000 feet of elevation. The 

 Hindoo Coosh, or Indian Caucasus of the Macedonians, is 

 a continuation of the Kuen-lun of North Thibet, and in 

 its further extension towards Herat, on the west of the 

 transverse north and south chain of Bolor, it divides into two 

 great chains bounding Kanristan ( 22 ), the southern of 

 which is the loftiest and most important. Alexander 

 passed over the plateau of Bamian, which has more than 

 8000 feet of elevation, and in which the cave of 

 Prometheus was supposed to be seen ( 221 ), gained the 

 crest of Kohibaba, and passed over Kabura, and along the 

 course of the Choes to cross the Indus above the present 

 Attock. The Hindoo Coosh, crowned with eternal snow, 

 which, according to Burnes, begins near Bamian at an 

 elevation of 12,200 French feet, must, when compared with 

 the humbler height of the Taurus to which the Greeks 

 were accustomed, have given to them occasion to recognise 

 on a more colossal scale the superposition of different 

 zones of climate and vegetation. That which elemen- 

 tary nature displays thus visibly, when presented to the 

 senses of men produces in susceptible minds a deep and 

 lasting effect. Strabo gives a highly graphic description 

 of the passage over the mountainous land of the Paro- 

 panisadse, where the army opened for itself with toil 



